Protection for the genitals of males engaging in sports and athletic activities has been known and practiced for many years in the form of a metal or plastic cup held in place by straps or special underwear. Regarding cup material, past use of metal has been replaced by current use of high-impact plastic materials.
Such protection is usually mandated for males in all forms of sports and athletics, amateur and professional, youths and adults. There are available a variety of protective systems, the most common of which, referred to as “jock strap” type, consists of a pouch or pocket of stretchable fabric material containing the cup, attached to typically three straps: one to surround each leg and a waist band which is typically made substantially wider than the two leg straps. Typically all three straps are made as loops of elastic webbing material, in a range of different youth and adult sizes. For most professional and serious sports activities, where dressing or locker rooms are available, the protector cup and its “jock strap” are typically worn, along with other sports uniform or attire, only for the duration of the sports or athletic event, due to some degree of discomfort, so typically pro sports undergarments are exchanged for regular underwear in changing to regular street attire. However the pouch/pocket is usually made such that the cup can be removed temporarily if desired.
For youngsters and casual sports events, special sports/athletic underwear, equipped with a pouch/pocket to support a cup, is made of soft stretchable material and is made comfortable enough to be worn at times as regular underwear with the cup removed. This of great convenience for after-school youth sports or athletic events in locations where changing/locker rooms are not available and where a complete change of attire is unnecessary or undesired.
Unfortunately, the actual real-world experience, especially by boys of school age and their parents, has found the conventional available undergarment protection apparel to fall far short of being satisfactory regarding comfort and/or security of placement, due to fundamental problems inherent in the implementation of such protective apparel of known art.